Fringe: So happy together

Having kidnapped Bishop on his ark, Bell shows Bishop his new universe and his new beastlings and humblebrags that while it took God only 7 days to create his universe, it took Bell considerably longer. Of course, he’s not quite done yet, and that’s when we see that Bell isn’t showing Bishop his actual universe, but some sort of Powerpoint presentation. It’s going to be TOTALLY AWESOME, Bell explains. Bishop disagrees, and demands that Bell cut this out right now. Nope! says Bell. Too late! says Bell. And it’s even awesomer that Bishop gets to be here when it happens! Like, providence or something! Bishop, he does not think it is providence.

Pacey and Olivia arrive at an empty Harvard lab and shrug off Bishop’s absence to go make a pot of coffee and talk about that weird thing Olivia did when she moved Pacey around like a giant puppet. Dunno, says Olivia. Blame it on the Korteh-eh-eh-eh-exiphan? Charlotte calls and interrupts this conversation to whine that some weirdo has been following her ever since she left the lab, could Olivia come over RIGHT NOW? And that’s when we see that The Observer has just cold let himself into Charlotte’s house to go stare at her, which seems rude. But the joke’s on him because he stepped onto some sort of light trap? Sure.

Olivia and Pacey show up at Charlotte’s empty house, where they notice that a part of the floor has been cut out, and Pacey immediately begins comforting Olivia that it’s not her fault that Charlotte is missing. Who said it was, Pacey? Col. Abaddon calls to interrupt with news that AsteriskAstrid has been found shot, and that she has gone into surgery. She and Pacey and Bishop should hurry to the hospital. Olivia is all, Wait, Bishop’s not with AsteriskAstrid? Looks like someone’s babysitting privileges are going to be revoked.

At the hospital, AsteriskAstrid explains that she last saw Bishop at the warehouse on the waterfront where they were looking for Bell, and then were attacked by a bunch of trigger-happy henchmen. And with that, Pacey and Olivia completely forget about Charlotte, and decide to go down to the warehouse to look for Bishop, even though he’d be long gone by now. But since a since a federal agent was gunned down at this location, it’s an important location, and obviously Pacey and Olivia are going to arrive at this location with a forensics crew and an entire SWAT posse, right? On account of the ARMED GUNMEN and the SHOOTING OF A FEDERAL AGENT? That just makes sense, right?

Well, you’d be wrong, brainiac. Pacey and Olivia arrive at the warehouse alone because who needs “procedure” or to “secure a crime scene?” Everyone knows that it’s easiest to solve a crime with a light crew, duh. When they arrive at the warehouse, ALONE, they find The Observer inside, stuck to the floorboards from Charlotte’s house. He’s like, Yeah, beats me, dudes. An armed Charlotte steps out of the shadows and demands Olivia drop her weapon because she was a Bell plant — a fact that Olivia doesn’t figure out until Charlotte is like, Guess what, I was a Bell plant. Olivia is outraged! She bets Charlotte doesn’t even have a daughter! WHAT PART OF “PLANT” DON’T YOU GET, DUMMY? NO, SHE DOESN’T HAVE KIDS. DERP. After explaining that she has trapped The Observer with “stasis runes,” Charlotte shoots at The Observer a few times. Fortunately for The Observer, he’s fast enough to deflect the bullets. Unfortunately for The Observer, Bell developed some sort of super-gun that is faster than he is, and Charlotte shoots him squarely in the chest. Olivia shrieks at Charlotte to STOP THAT IMMEDIATELY, and Charlotte is like NOPE, and takes aim again. But this time, Olivia catches the rounds and fires them back at Charlotte, killing her.

Pacey scrapes the “stasis runes” off of The Observertrap, allowing him to collapse in a heap. From there, The Observer marvels that “they” had the methodology to use the runes, thinking that it was beyond “them.” Olivia notes that this explains how The Observer got shot in the first place, and he’s all barroo? Olivia explains that he came to her at the Opera house, shot, and yammering about how she had to die in the future, so I guess she remembers that? Even though it happened to Olivia pre-memory meld? And I’m still very confused as to what Olivia can and can not remember? BUT FINE. SHE REMEMBERS THIS. For The Observer, however, this has not yet happened, and so he’s all, Off to go prevent a time travel paradox, KBAI.

Pacey and Olivia then turn their attention to Dead Charlotte, whom they return to the Harvard lab to question with Mrs. Roboto’s sooper-sekrit Corpse Reviver recipe. One part bolts in the brain, to two parts electricity stirred over ice, and to finish, a syringe full of truth serum to the temple.

Stab her in the face! (FOX)

And voilà! You’ve just made a recipe for The Very Best GIF:

(http://hellyeahfringe.tumblr.com/)

So creepy. Just when I think there’s no way Fringe can surprise or upset me anymore, they do something like this ↑. Bravo, guys.

Pacey, Mrs. Roboto and Olivia question Dead Charlotte as to Bell’s whereabouts, but she isn’t much use, what with her burbling about her childhood bicycle and wanting her Mummy. Eventually, she hints at him being on a boat, before yammering about what an amazing man Bell is, and how he’s going to give birth to a new world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, says Olivia, BUT HOW? Dead Charlotte teases that he needs an energy source, before rambling about being expendable to greatness and something or other about Noah and his ark. Olivia, growing increasingly irritated with this gibberish, grabs Dead Charlotte and begins shrieking at her, demanding to know what the power source is. This, however, only makes everything short out and Dead Charlotte gets dead again because uh doy, Olivia is the power source. That’s why Bell activated her in the first place, dummies.

But this is helpful information which Mrs. Roboto can use to pinpoint Bell’s location. Something something frequencies something, oh hey, it looks like Bell’s on a boat about 80 miles off Boston’s shore. Convenient. Also, there have been a bunch of earthquakes, which means the universes are busy colliding. DAMMIT, THERE’S NO TIME. Olivia moans at Pacey about how she feels like the alone little girl who was experimented on by Bell all those years ago, Pacey tells her she’s not alone, blah.

Meanwhile, Bell explains to Bishop that, honestly, this whole, “Let’s destroy the universes and create a shiny new one” was all Bishop’s idea. After Pacey died, twice, Bishop was fed up with God and his creations and decided to do away all of it. But then Bishop wussed out, and asked Bell to take out his brain pieces so that he wouldn’t talk crazy anymore. So Bell did. But then Bell got cancer and he was like, You know what? Bishop was right! These universes totally suck. Time for a do-over. Bishop is mortified by this, and Bell’s all, sorry, Lame-O, you just played at being God. I AM ALL THE GOD.

And then Bell shows Bishop the universe-destroying storm rising up all around his ship, and is like, THIS IS SO COOL, ZOMG. Bishop is like, Come on, dude. Don’t do this. And Bell is like, NOPE. DOING IT. Bishop sighs and checks out a gun that is not at all Checkoved on the desk there, as Bell explains that Olivia is the key to collapsing the universes. Super, says Bishop.

Mrs. Roboto, Pacey and Olivia fly to the location of Bell’s ark in a helicopter, but when they get there, the only person who can actually see the ark is Pacey, because the universes’ fabric is growing thin there or something, I didn’t really catch most of this thanks to our own universe-destroying storms that were in our area when this aired, causing not only the EMS to blare their warning sirens and yell at us that ALERT! THERE IS A STORM! ALERT! as if we couldn’t know that just by looking out the window, but also caused me to fall down in a nice dress and heels THREE TIMES outside Uchi because I am a graceful like a ballerina.

Anyway. The plan is that Pacey and Olivia are going to leap out of the helicopter and onto the ark, even though Olivia can’t see it. Which seems rather hasty but what are you gonna do. A parachute maybe? Just in case? NOPE. DAMMIT THERE’S NO TIME. And so they leap and of course they land and there’s some fake-o tension when Pacey almost slips off the boat but Olivia saves him.

Inside the cabin, Bell recites Yeats to an unimpressed Bishop when Pacey and Olivia wander in, and Bell is all, Well, I hadn’t planned on bringing any humans into my new universe besides Bishop and myself, but what the hey! You can be Adam and Eve! Pacey threatens to shoot Bell, but Bell’s like, Whatever. You can’t turn it off, though, because Olivia is the one powering this; she’s The Redeemer.

And so Bishop shoots Olivia in the head.

I just did not see that coming. And neither did Olivia.

Bell concedes that Bell won this round, before ringing a bell, disappearing … somewhere, and sighing that they could have all been so happy together. See ya next season, Mr. Spock! I hope!

Pacey is understandably quite upset with his father, but it’s cool, Pacey! Bishop has a plan! A plan that involves carving a hole into the base of Olivia’s skull and then popping the bullet through it from the entry wound with a pointer. Sure! Absolutely! Definitely try this at home, kids! And because her brain is so saturated with Kortexiphan, it heals itself and she lives. Hooray!

That all taken care of, Col. Abaddon meets with a senator who is all, “O HAI, THNX FOR SAVIN THA UNIVERSE. U CAN HAZ ALL THE MONIES. ALSO, U A GENRAL NAO. KABI.” And so Mr.Col. Gen. Abaddon goes outside and orders Mrs. Roboto to work for him because he can now on account of all the general stars.

And at a hospital, Bishop informs Pacey that Olivia has probably depleted the Kortexiphan stores in her brain, so she’ll be “normal” again. As normal as Olivia ever was, I suppose. AsteriskAstrid, who is also in the hospital, comes out to hang with the rest of the gang, bearing Red Vines for Bishop, when Pacey is told by the doctor that he can visit Olivia.

In her hospital room, Pacey tells Olivia that he found a home for them, that they deserve a little normal after everything. Pacey admits that The Observer was right about her needing to die in the future, but that he never wants to lose her again. FORESHADOWING. But Olivia is acting a little weird, and Pacey senses it, and is all ONO WHAT NOW? But it’s all good! Olivia’s pregnant! Hooray!

Finally, at the lab, Bishop makes himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when The Observer pops back in and announces that they have to warn the rest: They are coming.

Indeed. They are.

OLIVIA IS DEAD. LONG LIVE OLIVIA!

Death and rebirth, as I’m sure you know, is a Very Important Theme in the Hero’s Journey. In the monomyth, the hero has to pass through death, either literally or figuratively, as a part of his transformation from common to extraordinary (from childhood to adulthood), and to bring back the boon that would save his people, somehow. The Olivia to Jesus comparisons are rampant through this episode, and throughout the series as a whole. Like Christ, Olivia knows of her impending, prophesied death. Like Christ, Olivia is a redeemer — through her death, she saves the world(s). And like Christ, Olivia is resurrected and physically transformed.

To me, what is interesting is the use of symbols in this episode that help reveal this story of Olivia’s katabasis and resurrection. Bell’s ship and the storm he created is obviously a Noah’s ark reference: he has hubristically elevated himself to a God, and intends to manifest his own universe, populated with his own creations. Going along with this imagery, storms represent both creation and divine punishment and judgment. In the Old Testament, storms are used to demonstrate God’s power and wrath, but they also symbolize new beginnings. From the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols:

In a cosmic upheaval beyond the power of words, life itself was born. The mighty beginnings and the mighty ends of historical epochs – revolutions, new regimes and even the end of the world itself and the New Jerusalem – are seen in terms of storm. The gods who created and set the universe in order were storm-gods – the Assyro-Babylonian Bel, the Ancient Greek Zeus (Jupiter), the Germanic Donar, the Norse Thor and the Hindu Agni and Indra.

Thus, the storm in this episode not only represents Bell’s playing at God and attempting to create a new universe all his own — but the storm also represent Olivia’s new beginning, her rebirth, which must pass through violence before new life can be brought forth.

Additionally, there is the ship imagery. Again, it is easy to see the Noah’s Ark parallels, and they are certainly what is most intended. However, being items that transport people from one place to another, boats and ships often represent a journey to or through death. Most civilizations have some sort of symbolic “boat of the dead,” be it Charon’s ferry, the ships upon which the Ancient Egyptians sailed through the Underworld, or even the literal ship burials the Vikings performed. One French Philosopher, Gaston Bachelard, described this “boat of the dead” as a “rediscovery of the cradle,” comparing it to the bosom or the womb: “If Death were the first sailor … the coffin, according to such a mythological hypothesis, would not be the last boat. It would be the first boat. Death would not be the last voyage. It would be the first voyage. For some deep dreamers it would be the first true voyage.” It’s all cyclical, in this reading: the boat is a coffin is a cradle. We die, we are reborn. The boat ferrys us from life through death to life again. Which, strictly speaking, is exactly what also happens to Noah and his charges: he places them in a boat, they pass through the storm and certain death, and they emerge reborn on the other side. Olivia is dead, Olivia is reborn, Olivia bears life.

Of course, the whole birth/rebirth business isn’t the only thing from the monomyth in this episode. In fact, remarkably, this episode manages to cram the entire monomyth into 40 some-odd minutes. Our heroes are called to the adventure by Charlotte when she lures them to the warehouse with The Observer. The Observer and Charlotte herself become the supernatural aids (which are often liminal figures, existing in two worlds at once: The Observer exists in the future and the past, and Charlotte is both dead and alive) who help Pacey and Olivia understand where they must go on the next stage of their journey. (And interestingly, The Observer’s own time loop is closed by Olivia who gives him the information that will lead him back to the Opera House where the circle began in the first place.) By leaping out of the helicopter in an act of blind faith, Pacey and Olivia cross the first threshold, and enter the belly of the whale: Bell’s ship, the Talos. The “road of trials” and whole “woman as temptress/goddess” thing is condensed a bit — but it is still there: Pacey nearly falls off the ship, Bell attempts to tempt them into staying, Bell explains that Olivia is, literally, a goddess — she is The Redeemer, her energy is powering the formation of this new world. Of course, redeemers often meet unfortunate ends, and Olivia is shot in the head and dies. This physical death is the Apotheosis and the actual act of redemption. Through her death, Olivia literally saves two universes from destruction. The return is, like the road of trials, is somewhat condensed: Like Jesus, Olivia returns to life, making her a “master of two worlds,” and she has undergone a change in her physical condition. However, in an interesting reversal of the Christ story, unlike Jesus whose body becomes “glorified” after death, Olivia returns to this world as a completely normal human, lacking her supernatural powers. Finally, we end with Olivia both embracing this “freedom to live” moment, and revealing that she has obtained the ultimate boon: she is pregnant with Pacey’s daughter, Etta, who will be special like her mother and presumably be a savior figure herself sometime in the future. Of course, we don’t know that as of yet, but thanks to “Letters of Transit,” we can make some educated guesses that this is the direction this story is headed.

And this is, I suppose, what is to be the most important take-away from the episode: that not only is Olivia pregnant, but that she has, finally, broken through the curse and gift that Bishop and Bell left her — her abilities that make her special, but also prevent her from having a normal life. She literally has achieved the “freedom to live:” to live as someone who is not a walking weapon, to live as someone who can neither destroy nor create nor save entire universes, to live a normal life in a normal family.

And here’s where we get into the tricky spot of dramatic irony. I loved the “Letters of Transit” episode — a good flashforward is a clever way of teasing the audience while taking the story in unexpected directions. The problem with using a flashforward — or using a time traveling device like The Observer revealing to Olivia that she had to die — is that it almost robs the audience of the thrill of not knowing what comes next. In fact, those two items together, “Letters of Transit” + The Observer’s prophecy (and to a lesser extent, Olivia’s vision of Man X) kept me from loving this episode. Because I knew that 1. Olivia must live long enough to have a daughter and that 2. Olivia “must die,” I also knew that her resurrection was obvious and necessary and it relieved me of any sort of emotion over her “death.” Using dramatic irony in this way takes away the pleasure of not knowing where we will end up, showing us instead the completed picture, and leaving only for the viewer the fun of figuring out how we get there. And sometimes that can be somewhat disappointing. (See: Touch and/or FlashForward)

Which is part of the reason why it has taken me so long to write this final recap of the season. Before I go on to whine about what I didn’t like about this episode, let me state firmly that I love Fringe. I truly believe that Fringe is the most underappreciated series on television right now. I love the chances they take, especially along the lines of episodes like “Letters of Transit.” But I didn’t love this season, and I didn’t love this episode. This episode crammed way too much into one hour. I understand that when you have the sort of constrictions that television writers have to contend with, including how much time they have to either fill or how little time they actually have to tell an entire story, pacing can be difficult. Still, this was a two-part finale, and they felt the need to squeeze THE ENTIRE MONOMYTH into 40+ minutes, most of which took place in the second half of the last episode. This finale should have been broken up into three parts, pacing the ship (and monomyth adventure) scenes over the last two episodes, thereby making it much less frenetic and disjointed. Similarly, thanks to the entire season’s conceit: the timeline has been rewritten without Pacey!, this season has felt disconnected from the previous three, and it took entirely too long in reuniting our main characters in an emotionally satisfying way. It was a daring experiment, one that fits neatly within the Fringe mythology, indeed. But I think between the fact that the story required a certain amount of time for Olivia, Bishop and Pacey to find each other again to be believable — but which only served to frustrate viewers, and the fact that the writers were uncertain of Fringe‘s long-term future in general, the season felt somewhat discombobulated.

And that’s why I actually have hope that this last, shortened season will work. Not only do the writers have a set time frame in which to tell their story — 13 episodes — they also know where the story is headed. If I had to guess, next season will not actually take place in the future as seen in “Letters of Transit,” but instead will fill in the missing frames between now and then. There is still a lot of story left to tell: what happened to Olivia, what did Bell do, what is this device that Bishop designed, what happened to The Observer, what does the team know about the Observers’ impending invasion, what happened to Over There, and how did Bishop prepare the team for the coming future. And contrary to what I wrote above, I don’t actually mind the use of dramatic irony in this instance. If they do use this final season to fill in these blanks instead of just jumping directly into the future (which I doubt they will — there’s no way the final season of a series would eliminate their lead, right?), I am less begrudging of the use of dramatic irony simply because there is considerably less we know going into the story itself. Am I being contradictory? Maybe. But let’s call it being optimistic instead.

Goodbye, Season 4! You were kind of a mess, but I still love the series as a whole!